While I think it is generally well known that Russell, Carlo and I all think that music is being terribly mishandled for mobile and as a result it is far from living up to its potential ringtones continue to be surprising for their appeal, staying power, for their ability to command as much as a complete song and in my opinion for the terrible choices that seem to be the most popular.
With that said, Moderati delivers the twenty most popular songs for 2005 and as a bonus they’ve thrown in some amusing facts about the regional differences in taste amongst ringtone buyers. According to the report, hip-hop dominated the top twenty with over 60% of the songs by hip-hop artists. Movie theme songs, such as the one from Halloween made the list as did the Super Mario Brothers video game song.
Perhaps more interesting was the survey (I won’t call it a study lest it get confused for real science) they did analyzing the differences in downloads from east coast vs. west coast and another comparing northern California with southern California. While it isn’t surprising that the east coasters would rate the mob-drenched theme of the Godfather quite high, bringing it in at #3 compared with a #14 ranking from Angelenos, I was more surprised that the OC theme song made the top twenty (at #16) in 917, it failed to break into the top 20 in 213. Taking the “oldie but goodie” crown on the west coast, Dr. Dre finished up 2005 at #4 (with a year 2000 release!) while he was down in #19 for the east coast’s chart.
For those curious about the entire top twenty, I’ll put it up in an extended post. In the meantime, could someone please help me understand the ringtone phenomenon? I simply don’t see why this segment of the personalization market is so big and remains so strong, I swear for the life of me I can’t figure it out.
Without further ado, the Top 20 polyphonic ringtones of 2005 from
Modtones. Moderati officially proclaims these tones as “so last year.”
Song title / Artist
1. Candy Shop, 50 Cent
2. Super Mario Brothers (Theme) -
3. Just a Lil Bit, 50 Cent
4. Lovers and Friends, Lil Jon featuring Usher and Ludacris
5. Halloween (Theme) -
6. Gold Digger, Kanye West featuring Jamie Foxx
7. Hollaback Girl, Gwen Stefani
8. Brown Eyed Girl, Van Morrison
9. Spongebob Squarepants Theme, SpongeBob SquarePants
10. What U Gon’ Do, Lil Jon and the East Side Boyz
11. We Belong Together, Mariah Carey
12. Lonely, Akon
13. Let’s Go, Trick Daddy
14. Ass Like That, Eminem
15. PIMP, 50 Cent
16. 1, 2 Step, Ciara featuring Missy Elliott
17. Wait (The Whisper Song), Ying Yang Twins
18. Don’t Cha, Pussycat Dolls
19. Some Cut, Thrillville
20. Scotty Doesn’t Know, Lustra
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